by Tawny Weber
Today? She was so distracted, she’d wrapped Mayor Applebaum’s cherry pipe box in Valentine’s paper with a green bow before she’d realized what she was doing.
All she could think of was Diego. If she wasn’t reveling in the incredibly erotic feel of the hard length of him inside her, or of how good it felt to slide down his body, curl her fingers into the scattering of hair across his chest and hold on while he took her for another wild ride, she was reliving it in her head.
She’d known when she’d invited him to continue their sexual relationship that she’d been asking for trouble. Sexy trouble, to be sure. But trouble all the same. But she’d figured it’d be worth it.
What she hadn’t known—couldn’t have expected—was to find out she liked him. Just flat-out liked spending time with him, talking to him, laughing together. They’d spent the last few days becoming, well, friends. He’d decided to lull the Panty Thief into complacency while still keeping a close eye on things. So they’d attended the high school’s performance of Scrooge and the kindergarten recital of The Nutcracker. They’d gone to dinner, met Beryl and Neal for coffee, run into her mother and the mayor at the high school movie showing of Grinch and hit every boutique sale the senior ladies of Diablo Glen had to offer.
She’d loved every second of it.
And so, she suspected, had Diego.
And that was the scary thing.
“You’re out of cat treats,” he told her, coming into the living room. Having spent the past morning in Fresno testifying in court, he was dressed more formally than she’d seen him before. Black slacks and a black dress shirt gave him a dangerous air, especially when combined with the gun holstered at the back of his waist.
“A can of treats usually lasts her three months,” Jade pointed out as she carefully measured a length of paper against a big box. “Someone has been spoiling her.”
Diego’s grin flashed as he settled into the wicker rocker.
“I don’t have to spoil her. She likes me.” As if to prove his point, the cat padded out of the kitchen, still licking what was probably treat crumbs off her whiskers. She jumped onto Diego’s knee, sniffed at the cup of coffee in his hand, then curled into a purring ball in his lap.
He arched a brow and grinned. “See.”
Despite her dismissive eye roll, Jade was touched.
“So what’s the deal?” he asked all of a sudden. “Did someone post a sign claiming my lack of family? Suddenly, everyone’s trying to mother me. Or offering fatherly advice. Or worse, wanting to be my big brother or little sister. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
“I think it’s sweet,” Jade said, tucking her heels under her hips and rocking from side to side to settle into the pillow before pulling a large box toward her. “You know, for a guy who was so dismissive of small towns when you got here a week and a half ago, you’re sure fitting in well.”
“Just acclimating to build trust and break the case,” he said dismissively.
Not an easy thing to do, given that after Persephone had been caught with the doll panties six days ago, most everyone in town figured her for the Panty Thief. Except the mayor, who refused to consider the case closed and set Diego free. Since Diego didn’t believe that, either—after all, how many cats trashed bedrooms?—he hadn’t argued much.
But Jade knew he was frustrated.
“Is that why I saw you working on Marion Kroger’s car the other day?” she asked, teasing him out of the bad mood she could see him teetering on.
“Her engine wouldn’t start,” he said, staring into his coffee cup instead of meeting her amused gaze. “She had a trunkful of groceries that would have gone bad if she’d waited for a tow truck.”
“I heard you followed her home, just to make sure she was safe.”
He squirmed. Big bad cop squirmed. Jade pressed her lips tight to keep from giggling.
“Nobody likes melted ice cream at Christmas,” he muttered. Then he gave her a questioning look. “She’s got a lot of property out there, though. I didn’t realize how big her orchards were. How does she handle all that, with just her and Neal to work it?”
“It is big, isn’t it? I don’t know how she does it, but she’s making great money. Enough that she offered to buy Neal and Beryl a house as a wedding gift.”
“Here?”
Wouldn’t that have been nice? Jade swallowed the bitterness that coated her throat. A house, here in Diablo Glen, would have set Jade free.
“No. Neal wants to head down south. I guess it’s always been his dream to live somewhere warmer.”
Diego gave her a long look. Leaning over to set his cup on the table, he irritated the cat, who jumped off his lap. With a growl and a glare, Persephone stalked over to the tree and curled up there.
“Why aren’t you chasing your own dreams?” he asked, his words short, verging on angry. As if her being stuck here was a problem for him somehow.
“I have a life here.”
“Not the one you want.”
Jade focused all her attention on getting the bright red ribbon tugged and pulled so all the loops were even. It was hard to see them through the teary haze in her eyes, though.
“It’s the life I’ve built, though,” she finally said when she was sure her expression was serene. Meeting his dark, troubled gaze, she smiled. “Hey, I’m doing great. I have a secure job that, thanks to my grandmother leaving me this cottage, pays well enough to keep me in designer shoes. I have a wonderful family close by. A growing reputation as an It Stylist on the internet, thanks to Polypore. I’m even teaching a class at the college after the first of the year.”
Deciding the bow was good enough, she snipped the ribbon at an angle, then tugged the ends into place before clapping her hands together to indicate a job well done.
“It sounds like a pretty good life to me,” she insisted.
“But is it the life you want to be leading?” Without being asked, he hefted the now-decorated box and carried it to the tree, then grabbed another and set it in front of her to wrap.
Could he be any more perfect? He knew her needs, met them, without her saying a word. Just being with him made her happier than she’d ever imagined feeling. Her heart ached at the idea of what life would be like when he left. And he was worried that she wasn’t leading the life she wanted?
Jade’s smile hurt, but she didn’t let it slip. Why should she? He cared enough to be angry for her. The least she could do was fake it enough to soothe that anger.
“Diego, sometimes it doesn’t matter how good you are, how nice. Santa just can’t bring you what you want.” Which was why it was better to just not ask. It hurt less that way. “Unless you want to be miserable, it’s smarter to figure out how to turn that lump of coal in your stocking into a diamond.”
Or at least a chunk of prettily cut glass.
“I think it’s crap.”
Jade laughed.
“Seriously. You should be in San Francisco. Los Angeles. Hell, New York.” He didn’t sound very enthusiastic about that last one, though. “Somewhere that you could shine.”
“I’m shiny enough here. Shinier, in fact, since I don’t have much competition.” Jade ran the strings of the gift tag through her fingers, twisting and untwisting the ends until the twine frayed. Finally, she gave a little shrug and met his angry gaze. “I can’t leave. I thought I might, someday. But I can’t.”
He leaned forward, his shoulders hunched as if preparing to argue. Then he paused and looked closer at her face. Jade tensed. She hated confrontations. Someone’s feelings always got hurt. And it didn’t seem to matter if it was hers or the other person’s, either way she felt horrible.
As usual, though, Diego surprised her. Instead of pushing the topic, all he said was, “Sometimes you need to put yourself first, Jade. People who love you?
They’ll understand.”
Jade twirled the silver curling ribbon around her finger, then unwired it again. He was right. They would understand. But if she left to chase her dreams, someone else would have to give up theirs.
“And sometimes you learn to be grateful for the little things. Love means understanding why someone needs to leave, and letting them do it,” she said, looking up to stare into the hypnotic depths of his eyes and baring her soul. “And every once in a while, it means being okay with giving up the dream so the people you love can have theirs.”
If that wasn’t enough to make a girl want to haul on the Grinch costume, she didn’t know what was. Because her heart felt three times too big for her chest. He made her want more. Made her wish she could just grab on and demand more.
From her life.
From herself.
And from him.
12
DIEGO FONDLY REMEMBERED a time, not so long ago, when he’d known what to expect from life. People sucked, he could only count on himself and black clouds were the norm.
Ah, those were the good old days.
Now? Here in Diablo Glen?
Friendly residents acted as if he was one of their own, trying to include him in all sorts of cheerful holiday happenings. He’d lost his pen the other day and five people offered theirs. The last time he’d stepped into the diner, two customers had offered to buy his coffee. And despite the chilly December weather, it seemed like sunshine was the rule of the day.
It was freaky.
Freakier still was that he was starting to like it. Sort of. Or, he admitted as he dismounted his Harley, maybe that had something to do with Jade. What was with her? It was as if she was coated with some invisible magnetic substance. No matter how much he told himself to pull away, he couldn’t. She was sexy. She was sweet. She was fun and clever and smart.
She was the woman he hadn’t realized he’d been dreaming of. And now that he’d found her? Letting her go was going to be worse than being kicked out of every foster home he’d lived in, worse than watching his mother’s back as she left him yet again. Because unlike the people who’d bounced in and out of his childhood, Jade was the real deal.
He was walking a tightrope already with his feelings. Her sweetness, her sass and her lingerie had all hooked him good. But the explosive power between them in bed had reached inside, to a place he hadn’t even realized was there, and grabbed hold. He was terrified that if he wasn’t careful, the minute he slid inside her again, he’d grab hold and never let her go. Drag her to San Francisco with him, promising her anything to get her to go.
Because she was so deeply rooted in this little town, taking her with him would require handcuffs, his sidearm and enough Christmas cookies to put her into a sugar coma.
And she’d still come back.
Shoulders hunched against that depressing reality, and not sure what to expect from Applebaum’s summons, Diego stepped through the diner door. He looked around in surprise. A quick head-count estimate put the room at over thirty people. What? Every family in town had a body here for lunch? And what did it say about him that he recognized all of them?
Except the Hispanic couple in the far booth, he realized, narrowing his gaze and trying to place them. Definitely not from around here. He wondered if their car had broken down. They had the look of people who’d traveled a long way by foot.
“Hey, Detective,” Carly greeted, a menu in one hand, her tray in the other. The pretty little redhead looked as if she should be in home ec. class instead of working tables. But Diego knew she was a mother of two, and if rumor was right, would have another stocking on the mantel next year. “The mayor’s waiting for you at the back table.”
The back table meant walking through the diner-filled sea of staring patrons. But unlike most places he was used to walking through, the stares weren’t angry or hostile. They weren’t coldly assessing. They were welcoming, most with cheerful greetings and a couple of friendly waves. Some were a little too friendly. He subtly shifted away from the table full of lunching moms all staring at his jeans as if their eyes were measuring tapes.
“The mayor’s having the lunch special,” Carly offered over her shoulder. “I can bring you the same. Or Lorna’s got some of that corned beef you like. She’d be happy to make you a Reuben. Just let me know.”
Debating, Diego glanced at the menu board. A one-pound meat-stuffed Asiago roll with a side of frings? Maybe he should find out who was next-in-charge in case Applebaum had a heart attack from eating that sucker.
“The Rueben sounds good,” he decided.
They reached the booth set to the far back of the diner, at least five empty tables away from anyone else. Before he’d settled his butt on the soft fabric, Carly was back with a cup of coffee.
“You’ve got a strange town here,” Diego said after the waitress had left to fill their order. “A whole bunch of people got their underwear stolen, the thief is still at large, and they don’t seem to care.”
“The thefts have stopped,” Applebaum pointed out.
“The thief hasn’t been.”
“And that’s bothering you?”
Diego looked at the older man as if he’d lost a few marbles. “Of course it is. I’m a cop. I was hauled here to solve a crime.”
Applebaum sipped his coffee, watching Diego over the edge with narrowed eyes. “You’re pissed.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Okay. Frustrated, irritated, stymied.” He took another sip, but before Diego could find that tact he’d been warned he’d need, the mayor continued. “You’re trying to figure out why I won’t just cut you loose, since the crime—such as it is—seems to have hit a dead end.”
“Your side job as a fortune-teller must come in handy come election time,” Diego said, wondering why he wasn’t more irritated. Everything the old man said was true. He should be stressed and anxious, furious to get done with this and get on with his promotion, his move and his life.
Except getting on with any of that started with saying goodbye to Jade. Diego stared into the murky liquid of his cup and sighed. Life had been better when he hadn’t cared. It’d hurt less, and he was pretty sure his spine had been stronger.
“Why are you keeping me here?” he finally asked. Both to avoid the other points, and because he was actually curious.
Applebaum gave a low hum, then gestured with his cup.
“You see a lot of the ugly side of life in your line of work.”
In his work. In his life. Same difference.
Something to remember. Definitely not the kind of life he should be wishing Jade wanted to check out.
“I guess I do. Crime’s usually committed by ugly people.”
“I guess it’d be hard to shift views, then. To see the good in people. See the possibilities and understand the motivation behind the foibles.”
Diego had never had a guiding figure in his life. No dad to pass down wisdom. No counselor to motivate and inspire. So it was weird to suddenly find himself looking up to an older man, wishing he could embody some of the guy’s wisdom. Wanting, just a little, to ask for advice.
Stupid. Applebaum was practically a stranger. One Diego would be saying goodbye to as soon as possible.
Diego cleared his throat, his gaze dropping to the smooth varnish on the wooden table. Time to change the subject.
“I have to say that you have a disturbing lack of perverts in this town,” he said after a second. And he was truly bothered by that. Dirty old men, degenerates and moralless lowlifes were his stock-in-trade. But if there were any in Diablo Glen, they hid it well. Not just well enough to slide past his radar, but so well that they’d fooled the entire town.
“We have our share of characters. But most people looking for that kind of thrill have to go outside town to find dirt a
nd kink. Still...” The mayor paused, giving Diego a long, searching look. Resisting the urge to squirm, Diego consciously cleared his mind of any and all kinky thoughts as they related to Jade. Which took him a couple of seconds.
“Still,” the mayor continued, “we are seeing crime rise. Unlike the last decade, when more people moved away than were born here. Now the town is growing. Young families, kids who couldn’t find jobs—or those thrills—in the city stay here, plus a few relatives who are looking for a nice place to retire.”
Diego had watched enough baseball to recognize a windup. He wasn’t sure where it was going, though. So he leaned back in the cushioned seat, waiting for the pitch.
“The neighboring towns are seeing the same thing. Between us, Barkerville and Middleton, we’ve seen our populations grow by a quarter in the last two years. There’s no sign of that slowing down.” Applebaum paused to take a deep, appreciative gulp of coffee, staring at Diego the whole time. Looking for what? “Given that, we’re strongly considering not renewing our contract with the county for protection and starting our own police department instead.”
Kerthud. His heart gave one strong slam against his chest. Possibilities swirled. None had anything to do with his personal career goals or ambitions. All had to do with what he was feeling for Jade. How had this happened? After a week and a half together, he was thinking about a future? Wondering how to mesh his job and her commitment to her hometown?
He had to force himself not to leap from the booth and race right out of town.
Just to prove he could.
“Me? I’m getting older. Not so old I can’t take good care of Diablo Glen. But I’m starting to think there’s more to life than the job,” Applebaum mused aloud, staring out the window for a second. Then, as if snapping out of a reverie, he gave Diego an unreadable look. “I might be shifting a little of my focus, and I could use someone here in town that I can count on.”
Someone was keeping secrets, Diego realized with a narrow look of his own. And keeping them damn well, since they hadn’t surfaced on the town gossip wires. Curiosity, once only inspired by crime, flared in Diego’s mind. What was the good mayor up to? Or should that be who?
